Lifted Darkness
by Salios
Summary: PostKingdom Hearts, the last battle and found allies.Slight shounenai, angst RikuSora oneshot


**_Disclaimer_: i own nothing except myown copies of the KH games and game guides**

**_Pairings_: Sora/Riku obviously**

**_Author's rant_: i wrote this for my english short-story assignment, i hope i get a good mark, but i also wanted to see what all of you thought about it. don't worry about the rest of my stories, they're on their way, slowly but surely, and one more will be added as well. my beta officially hates me now, seeing as she has over 200 pgs to type up for me TT JA!**

**_Posted_: April 10th, 2006**

* * *

Traverse Town had always been a busy place; much more so after the Heartless had destroyed dozens of worlds, leaving survivors to wander restlessly in search of a safe haven. After the worlds had been restored, many people decided to stay.

Sora included.

The tiny sixteen-year old sat on his window seat, a cup of steaming tea settled comfortably in his tan fingers.

After defeating Ansem and locking away the renegade Darkness brought about by the man's experimentations within Kingdom Hearts, Sora had retired to the Second District Hotel. A room had graciously been offered to house the Hero permanently.

While wandering the town aimlessly, grieving for his lost home and departed friends, Sora had stumbled upon a door. Now, Sora had a history with doors and not a particularly pleasant history either. But on the other side of this door, another room was found.

The room was obviously gothic; with high ceilings, arched windows and tall doorways, Sora was amazed within the first four steps past the front door. Through the small hallway from the main door, a large sitting room lay furnished in dark violets and shining jet. Large, plush couches, chairs, and a gigantic fireplace were the first things that drew his cerulean eyes, that and the larger arched windows that showed an astronomical view of Second District. A plush violet window seat made it all the better.

His bedroom was much the same, a high canopy bed draped in violet and jet silks, with intricately detailed bedposts, headboard, and footboard made of dark mahogany were enhanced by the jet bed sheets.

Although the suite, for what else could it possibly be, was beautiful in every aspect, it brought painful memories of the war to his mind.

Perfect to remember those lost.

After a small chat with the manager of the hotel, Sora had been given full rights to the room with use from any of the hotel's normal services.

The brunette sighed, the colours, they reminded him so, of the Darkness swirling around Riku's lean body, lusting the blonde into leaving their home behind, but not nearly enough so to leave Sora behind; no, never. The image was burned into his mind; Riku's gloved hand reached out to Sora, waiting for the brunette to clasp it, aqua eyes watching him with so much trust.

But he hadn't.

_Riku… Oh Riku… _

Riku had given Sora the silver crown charm that rested in the hollow of his throat, the chain that had come with it broken into thousands of tiny pieces in the last battle. It now hung from a black leather choker around his tan neck, the pressure and weight a constant reminder.

Riku had always been there, always protecting him and Sora fancied the idea that the charm had been doing the same for the months that he had been in this war.

But now…

Riku was trapped inside Kingdom Hearts, the doors containing all light and good in the world, by Sora's hand.

_He_ had pushed the great ivory doors shut

_He_ had not tried to pull Riku from the inside.

_He_ had not joined Riku within the doors, battling the last of the Darkness within.

No… He hadn't.

And Sora despised himself for it.

The key-bearer sighed and pulled down his drooping sweater to view the white starburst that adorned his chest. The mark stood out starkly from his tanned skin; another reminder of the things lost in the past year. The small black heart-outline on his left shoulder carried much the same meaning.

Riku had the same tattoo, created not by any mortal hand but of the lingering touch of Darkness upon their souls.

But the star…

Would Kairi have the same mark?

Would she remember how he had had no hesitation about losing his Heart to save hers?

His friends…

While Sora and Riku had always been friends, nearly inseparable ones at that, Kairi had created a kind of rift between then; one always trying to out-do the other to win her affection. The strain had made once bright smiles dim and strained, hugs tense and rare.

Sora sighed, the adventure had done nothing to improve their relationship.

He shook his spiky cinnamon locks and stared out at the full moon glimmering off of the waterfall in Second District. He sipped his tea and touched the crown pendent, slightly warm from his body.

Sora knocked back his tea and stood, leaving the window in favour of the warm bed awaiting him.

Bare feet padded to the side of the bed while slim hands pulled off a bulky sweater; the weather had taken a bit of the chilly turn lately. The warm sheets seemed to wrap themselves around his body as he crawled under them, the pillows cushioning his spiky locks perfectly.

Maybe he'd be able to sleep tonight, without horrendous dreams of the past plaguing him.

He closed his eyes---

Kairi's slack face appeared, trapped forever in an unnatural sleep.

Blue eye shot open.

"Stop thinking about it." Sora mumbled to himself, rolling over to attempt sleep once more.

He snuggled into the pillows, and closed his eyes—

Only to have Riku's face, eyes full of sorrow, and a trembling smile fill his vision. Begging Sora to shut the doors, to leave him to the cruel hands of the Heartless, to the rending Darkness…

…Forever…

Sora sighed and rolled over to curl into a tiny ball, needing comfort and only having himself to give it.

Just as he had gotten comfortable, the front doors slammed open, surely making dents in the plaster of the violet walls.

Sora sat up sharply.

"Sora! **_Sora_**!" someone cried, a thick lisp coating every word and slurring them.

Within second the brunette was out of bed and flying down the hallway, bare feet slapping against the onyx tiles.

"Donald! What is it? What's—"

"The Heartless! They're attacking First District! Leon and Goofy are—" A large explosion rocked the room, making Donald tumble and Sora scramble to keep his footing.

"The Hell!" Sora cried, rushing to find his boots and coat, not bothering to put a shirt on under the tiny piece of leather.

Feeling rather bare, the keyblade master charged from his room, through the door, to appear outside the door to the hotel.

The sight that met him was horrifying; the Heartless had completely bypassed First District in favour of demolishing Second. Scraps of sock and metal littered the cobblestone courtyard, making the battle ground ever more treacherous.

The fountain containing Traverse Town's keyhole was in shambles; once pristine water now black with Heatless blood, the stained-glass butterflies now scattered across the ground, most shattered or cracked under thousands of feet,

Although thousands of heartless had already been dispatched, no bodies littered the ground, the stolen hearts already returned to Kingdom Hearts.

Almost as soon as he stepped past the door, Sora was attacked by dozens of Heartless, freshly raised from the shadows.

Soldiers, and the smaller shadows charged at Sora, claws raised and ready to slice his head form his shoulders. Sora dodged a swipe to his side, parrying another at chest-level before jumping back and slashing at them, two disappeared in a burst of purple smoke before more filled in their comrades' place, swinging and slicing at his body. He spun his keyblade over his head, nearly bending his body back double before jumping into the air and rolling his body to slice the shadows that had reared up beneath him.

"**Ars Arcanum!"** Sora screamed, thrusting his blade into the air as thousands of white strands and stars exploded from the keyblade's tip the slaughter nearly every heartless surrounding him. A few escaped and charged the brunette anew, his friends now ready one step behind and beside him. Goody charged the Heartless with a battle-cry more akin to his odd laugh, while Donald began casting Firaga, Blizaga and Stopra spells on the surrounding enemies, stopping them in their tracks and obliterating them.

This continued for what seemed like hours, until every Heartless was gone, only a wave of writhing black and purple bodies massing before them. It seemed every Heartless ever created was within this miniature army, shadows, soldiers, rhapsodies, even behemoths massed together, bodies pressed so close that it seemed as though they were one giant Heartless with millions of glowing yellow eyes.

"Sora." The brunette turned to see Leon standing beside him, the grimace on his face twisting his scar into an even more grotesque shape. It ran from the tip of his right eyebrow to the bottom of his left cheekbone.

Sora pitied any human, Heartless, or other species that had the displeasure that angered the usually stoic man.

Griever, the roaring silver lion's head that dangled from Leon's neck, seemed to glow in the eerie light the Heartless' eyes gave off, only making Leon's leather and belt clad legs, bomber jacket, and fierce expression more enhances. Rather beautiful really, in a morbid-scary kind of way. Yuffie stepped up beside him; her usually cheerful face wore a grimace that matched Leon's, if only to a lesser degree.

A crushing pressure enveloped Sora's chest as he surveyed the faces around him. So much sorrow, so much pain. If only he could have done something sooner…

"Leon." The smaller brunette replied.

"Be prepared, I think this may be the last group of them." With those simple words he tossed a package of items at Sora, to which he healed his party and readied them for the coming battle.

"Here they come!" Someone cried.

The Heartless surged in one giant mass of bodies, but before it could spill over a blinding white light exploded from their bodies, tearing them to pieces with screams too horrible and grotesque to be human.

The light became too bright for Sora to watch and covered his face, looking away.

Instead of consuming the allies like he had thought, the light swept past and around them to devour the swaying white husks of the Nobodies behind them.

Once the light had faded, the brunette looked back to where the Heartless had been, only seeing something else.

A figure.

A figure in a black cloak too thick to be silk, but too smooth to be leather, a high hood shadowing a face completely. The drawstrings of the coat clinked against the zipper; the silver end-caps looked as if tiny snarling demons had been captured in the nearly white metal mid-swipe at an invisible enemy.

Wisps of white, gold, black ad purple danced around the figure, swaying the edges of the coat and sleeves. He, for what woman had such broad shoulders, turned toward the small brunette standing not ten feet away, almost gliding his movements so graceful.

Sora took a step back in awe, much like the people around him. Gathering his courage he took a step towards the mysterious man, blood spattered coat clinging to his body. Droplets of sweat rolled down his torso, over a slim chest and small abs, mixing with the black Heartless blood to gather in the dip of his naval, or past to the waistband of his pants.

The figure stepped towards Sora, in the same graceful movements as before. Sora's cerulean eyes widened in shock and he stood straight, making his spiky hair bob.

The man stopped scarcely a foot away from the smaller teen, pulling off gloved hands to reveal porcelain smooth skin a few shades shy of ivory. Those slender fingers reached into the pouch on his belt to pull out a single rose, the petals in full blood to show off its red, nearly black colour.

The same hands help it out to Sora, making the brunette let out a tiny gasp of shock before gently taking the flower from the cool fingers into his own. He inhaled the heavenly scent deeply. Sora opened his mouth to thank the man, both for his gift and for destroying the remaining Heartless, but was stopped as those enticing hands swiftly lowered the black hood.

Silver hair spilled out from its confines, over broad shoulders to rest against his breast while aqua eyes twinkled at Sora knowingly; as if the man had a secret the brunette was dying to know. Coral pink lips were quirked into a small smirk while a slim silver brow arched.

"R-Riku?" Sora whispered, completely floored. He stared at his best friend in disbelief, as if he expected the blonde to disappear the moment he looked anywhere else.

"Yes Sora, it's me."

Riku was rather surprised to find Sora's willowy body pressed against his in a fierce hug, the brunette's arms tight around his slender neck. He hugged back with the same intensity, if more tightly, breathing in Sora's scent. He smelled of the ocean, and the paopu flowers that bloomed in early summer, the ones they would pick and give to each other no matter how girly it seemed.

Riku was back. His Riku was back and safe, and come Hell or high water Sora wasn't about to let him go again.

"Hey Riku?" Sora prodded.

"Yeah Squirt?"

Sora scowled at the nickname and pulled back a moment to look at his friend, who merely laughed at the face.

"You know, I've been thinking—"

"Really now? I hope you haven't hurt yourself." He chided.

Sora pulled on one of his silver ear tails in retribution.

"Shut up for a moment, 'kay?"

"Mm.."

"I was thinking, instead of wondering about you so much next time, I think we should put in some precautionary measures!" Sora cried.

"' Precautionary' 'eh? Where'd you learn such large words?" at Sora's red face he moved on. "What do you mean?"

"Well… We could share a Paopu!"

Riku spluttered.

"A Paopu! The Hell Sora! That's not precautionary, that's marital!"

"So! As long as I can make sure you're safe I don't care what I need to do!" Sora cried, blue eyes wide in defiance.

"…Fine…So you want to marry me…Fine… But… _I _get top!"

Sora blanched.

"**Riku**!"

They laughed; life was better again, and there was no doubt in Sora's mind that it would only continue getting better.


End file.
